The Ontario Chamber of Commerce

21st Century Workforce

Building a 21st century workforce through workplace training, utilizing newcomers’ skills and apprenticeship reform

Ontario needs to build the skill sets necessary for the knowledge economy. Because there are numerous areas where skilled labour is in short supply, despite high unemployment, governments need to help ensure labour supply better matches demand.

The Good News…

• The province has a higher level of post-secondary credential attainment than any OECD nation, 20% higher than the US, and double that of the UK
• Ontario’s rich post-secondary infrastructure includes 20 public universities and 24 colleges
• Total provincial post-secondary enrolment is at almost 600,000 (including 66,000 international students who spend over $2.1 billion annually in Ontario)
• Skilled immigrants made up 84% of Ontario’s total landings in 2010

The Challenges…

• There are not enough students entering the skilled trades to meet labour market demand
• Ontario’s working-age population as a share of the total population is expected to decline by almost 9% by 2036
• With an increasing senior citizen population across Canada, there will be a labour deficit of more than one million workers by 2031
• Immigrant underemployment costs between $3.4 and $5 billion a year
• Canada’s labour productivity rate is growing at 0.5% annually compared to 2.1% for the US.

How do we build a 21st century workforce?

1. Reform Employment Insurance: create a fair, nationally standardized EI system, as recommended by the Mowat Centre EI Task Force
2. Improve workforce training: adopt a comprehensive, streamlined, client-centred workforce training model
3. Improve newcomers’ employment prospects: develop an immigration selection strategy, linked to economic and/or labour market objectives
4. Bridge the increasing skilled trades gap: objectively review journeyperson to apprentice ratios and bring them as close to 1:1 as possible
5. Invest in transit: improve transit and transportation infrastructure to attract the best talent and better connect people with jobs
6. Build lifelong learning opportunities: provide opportunities to upgrade skills through workplace training at all stages of a career
7. Respond to the needs of the urban Aboriginal population: create an integrated, stable and adequately resourced framework for funding programs and services
8. Reform undergraduate education: better integrate the university and college sectors to allow for simpler transfers and transitions between institutions